DiCaprio To Bank Dreamy Paycheck From 'Inception'

Dorothy Pomerantz
, Contributor[The Business of HollwoodOpinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.

Leonardo DiCaprio stands to make at least $50 million from his latest hit Inception. And that's only from the film's box office earnings. With the extra revenue slated to come from DVD and television sales, he could end up earning much more.

Exhibitor Relations predicts that Inception will earn $750 million by the time it's completed its box office run. In less than a month the film has already earned $480 million. That's an impressive take this summer for a movie that's not a cartoon, a sequel or a remake. (See "Summer 2010's Biggest Box Office Winners")

The film was a risky bet for
Time Warner
studio Warner Bros. and for DiCaprio, who ranks 71st on our annual Celebrity 100. Director Christopher Nolan is the man behind The Dark Knight, which is the sixth highest grossing film of all time (not adjusting for inflation) with $1 billion at the box office. But Nolan's non-Batman films haven't performed quite as well. The Prestige, which featured Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman as dueling magicians, earned only $110 million in 2006.

Inception was an original idea, with even more twists and turns with its dream within a dream within a dream plot. Audiences could have easily rejected the $160 million film.

Because the movie was so risky, DiCaprio agreed to take a pay cut to star in it, earning well under his normal $20 million. In return he and Nolan agreed to split a pot of now-rare first dollar gross points. That means he gets money coming directly off the top of ticket sales (once he has earned back his advance). Most deals these days are structured so that stars don't start earning until the studio has earned back its production and advertising spend.

That risk paid off for DiCaprio, who will see his biggest payday yet. It also cements DiCaprio as a bona fide movie star who can open a film and take it to a big payday.

DiCaprio has always earned big, but his adult-centric films haven't always performed. Body of Lies earned just $115 million at the global box office and 2006's Blood Diamond earned $170 million. Those aren't flop numbers, but they aren't the kind of returns studios want to see when they're paying top dollar for a big star like DiCaprio.

But 2010 has been the year DiCaprio proved he's worth every penny. Earlier this year DiCaprio's Shutter Island became director Martin Scorsese's highest-grossing film of all time with $300 million in global box office earnings. Now with Inception, the actor's movies this year alone have earned $780 million to date.

For his next act, DiCaprio is scheduled to play the infamous FBI director J. Edgar Hoover in a Clint Eastwood-directed biopic.